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Combatting Summer Slide Amongst Low-Income First Graders

Reading proficiently by the third grade is one of the strongest factors for predicting high school graduation and a better quality of life that comes with education. While it has been found that on average, children across the economic strata progress evenly during the school year, children from low-income households usually start behind their middle- and high-income peers and fall further behind as they lose gains during summer vacation due to limited access to books. While progress is slowly being made in improving access to reading material through ebooks, a digital game is recommended that trains and encourages low-income parents of kindergarteners to better utilize the full potential of these resources. Following Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism, by training parents in interactive read-aloud strategies that scaffold children’s vocabulary and comprehension skills, the game will help incoming first graders a) retain or surpass their post-kindergarten reading level, b) be more comfortable with texts and thus more school-ready, and c) have better vocabulary development and comprehension than children who are merely read to. The outcome of this study will guide further implementation of home-enrichment interventions as well as interactive read-aloud methodology.